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Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) created a post

Apr 13, 2019  
Can anyone recommend some good two-player tabletop games, be it board, and, or dice games? I'm going to have surgery and will have a lot of downtime and don't want to spend it as a couch potato.

I like to play city building games online, like Banished, Civilization, and Sierra Impression Games (Pharaoh, Caesar, and Emporer) and have looked at a few board game versions but they look complicated and come with so many pieces. Are they manageable or will a cat coming into the room destroy the game with a swipe of its tail? My roommate doesn't play games yet so it would have to be a game that isn't overly complex or complicated to a newbie or a highly-medicated me.

We also like Scrabble, word puzzles, and trivia games but are looking for similar games. We've played Uno (which is now forever known as F-U/No, F-U, haha) and Yahtzee. So traditional board, card, and dice would be nice. We like mystery, paranormal, and educational games, not big on fantasy, sci-fi, sports, or anything chaotic.

I'm also hoping to find games my boyfriend and I can play kind of mindlessly to do in the background while we chat about life and tell stories. I'm really needing some good intimate (not sexual) discussion.

All advice appreciated.
     
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Awix (3310 KP) Apr 14, 2019

Seven Wonders Duel is a pretty good, medium-complex card game. Splendor and Carcassonne also both work well with two and they're a little simpler and possibly more cat-proof too.

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The Marinated Meeple (1853 KP) Apr 15, 2019

Jaipur is one of my favorites and has an App you can get as well.

Let's Talk! Going to the Zoo
Let's Talk! Going to the Zoo
Lisa Jacovsky | 2021 | Children, Education
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Are you looking for a good sports book for your newest little one? Well, HomeRun! My First Baseball Game is good to have along with the others in the small sports set. This one is a funny game of baseball for young children and toddlers.

This lovely board book will teach them about baseball and baseball term words. It is adorable and will be enjoyable for children.; It a game between Cows and Bears? Who will win in the ninth inning?

Want to take your youngest fans of baseball to a game? Well, this book can do that without leaving your home—what a time for me to be reading this book. However, the baseball season starts in April, which is Spring. This sports season is still going on, as I write. I thought this book was quite an adorable read. I love the back and forth of the story—it is like being at a real ball game.

Children will learn about baseball and enjoy the rhyming as your read. Parents can help young readers learn to read and learn about a sport. The book is a fast and quick read. Who will win the game of the year? Young fans will enjoy the story, and the pictures stand done well. Baseball is a good family event as well. If you are a baseball fan, you might have a little fan of your own and HomeRun! My First Baseball Game is terrific to have your child or children's bookshelf. They can learn a little about the game through this lovely book.
Anyone can enjoy a book about baseball. It is a good summer sports event to go to and have family fun. You do not need to worry about your toddler holding and to play with this book. It is a board book and sturdy for them.
  
HomeRun! My First Baseball Game
HomeRun! My First Baseball Game
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Are you looking for a good sports book for your newest little one? Well, HomeRun! My First Baseball Game is good to have along with the others in the small sports set. This one is a funny game of baseball for young children and toddlers.

This lovely board book will teach them about baseball and baseball term words. It is adorable and will be enjoyable for children.; It a game between Cows and Bears? Who will win in the ninth inning?

Want to take your youngest fans of baseball to a game? Well, this book can do that without leaving your home—what a time for me to be reading this book. However, the baseball season starts in April, which is Spring. This sports season is still going on, as I write. I thought this book was quite an adorable read. I love the back and forth of the story—it is like being at a real ball game.

Children will learn about baseball and enjoy the rhyming as your read. Parents can help young readers learn to read and learn about a sport. The book is a fast and quick read. Who will win the game of the year? Young fans will enjoy the story, and the pictures stand done well. Baseball is a good family event as well. If you are a baseball fan, you might have a little fan of your own and HomeRun! My First Baseball Game is terrific to have your child or children's bookshelf. They can learn a little about the game through this lovely book.
Anyone can enjoy a book about baseball. It is a good summer sports event to go to and have family fun. You do not need to worry about your toddler holding and to play with this book. It is a board book and sturdy for them.
  
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Codenames in Tabletop Games

Jul 17, 2020 (Updated Jul 18, 2020)  
Codenames
Codenames
2015 | Card Game, Deduction, Party Game, Spies / Espionage, Word Game
Fun to play (2 more)
Easy to Learn
High Replayability
Getting the assassin (2 more)
Getting the bystander
Getting the other teams word
Excellent Deduction Party Game
Codenames- is one of the two games i bought at this years Pax East. It is also one of the first board games that i bought. The second being Coup. Now since then I have like 25 board games. I love collecting board games cause i can either play them with my family or go solo. Personality i love going solo in board games.

I learn about this game through the Funhaus Channel. And personality wanted to buy it after watching it. It looked easy, fun and entertaining. So when i saw it at Pax i knew i had to by it. If you dont know what Codenames is or never heard of it. Let me explain.


Codenames is a party deduction word card name for 2-8 people. It came out in 2015, designed by Vlaada Chvátil and published by Czech Games Edition.

The Objective: Two teams compete by each having a "spymaster" give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. The other players on the team attempt to guess their team's words while avoiding the words of the other team.

The Gameplay:

Players split into two teams: red and blue. One player of each team is selected as the team's spymaster; the others are field operatives.

Twenty-five Codename cards, each bearing a word, are laid out in a 5×5 rectangular grid, in random order. A number of these words represent red agents, a number represent blue agents, one represents an assassin, and the others represent innocent bystanders.

The hint's word can be chosen freely, as long as it is not (and does not contain) any of the words on the code name cards still showing at that time. Code name cards are covered as guesses are made.

After a spymaster gives the hint with its word and number, their field operatives make guesses about which code name cards bear words related to the hint and point them out, one at a time. When a code name card is pointed out, the spymaster covers that card with an appropriate identity card – a blue agent card, a red agent card, an innocent bystander card, or the assassin card – as indicated on the spymasters' map of the grid. If the assassin is pointed out, the game ends immediately, with the team who identified him losing. If an agent of the other team is pointed out, the turn ends immediately, and that other team is also one agent closer to winning. If an innocent bystander is pointed out, the turn simply ends.

The game ends when all of one team's agents are identified (winning the game for that team), or when one team has identified the assassin (losing the game).

Its a fun entertaining deduction party card game and can be played over and over again without losing its charm. Its excellent board game and a must buy if you haven't bought it yet.
  
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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Dollars to Donuts in Tabletop Games

Jul 21, 2020 (Updated Jul 21, 2020)  
Dollars to Donuts
Dollars to Donuts
2020 | Abstract Strategy, Puzzle
I don’t think I even have to say anything up top here to get those juices flowing – just looking at the box to Dollars to Donuts makes you pine for them. Just me? Nah, everyone loves donuts – even most of the diabetics I’ve known. So when I heard that we had a chance to preview a tile-laying, set collection donut-themed game, I knew we had to jump on it. And oh, spoilers, it’s GREAT.

Dollars to Donuts is a game where you are literally turning dollars into donuts. Pretty on the nose with the title, eh? Agreed, but once you play it, I promise you will be hooked.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and the final components may be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, but to give our readers an idea of how the game plays. You are invited to back the game on Kickstarter running until August 10, 2020, order from your FLGS, or purchase through any retailers stocking it after it is fulfilled. -T

There really are plenty of rules for this game, and I will not touch on everything. To setup, deal each player a board in their color along with the matching starting 1×1 donut tiles to be placed on the boards according to the rules, as well as the proper starting Dollar Tiles. Populate the Specials Board (shown below), reveal the top four Customer Cards (shown below), separate the Donut Tiles into like piles, and throw the rest of the Dollar Tiles into the cloth bag. The game is now ready to begin!

Each player will be purchasing a Donut tile (1×4) on their turn and placing it on their board. The interesting thing here is that these tiles do NOT have to be confined to the spaces on the Player Mat (board) – tiles can hang off the edge. And icons that are hanging off, however, cannot score or provide any benefit, so that is the trade-off. After placing the Donut Tile on the board, players will then collect Donut VP Tokens if placing on the board created a complete donut. If the placing created a mismatched donut, the player will instead collect as many Dollar Tiles as the highest number of $ symbols of the mismatched donut (so a plain donut half is worth $1 but a chocolate is worth $2 so a mismatched donut of those two flavors would count as $2). At this point, the player may choose to place a 1×1 double-sided Dollar Tile on their board to fill a gap, or hole, and I’ll be darned if you don’t use donut holes to fill holes in your board. Lastly, a player may then Serve a Customer using their earned Donut VP Tokens. Serving customers increases the value of the VP tokens, so serving is certainly beneficial.

Play continues in this fashion until a player has filled their empty board spaces with delicious donuts. Complete the round and then count the scores to see who really is the Donut Champ.

Components. Again, we were provided with a prototype copy of Dollars to Donuts, and upgraded components are stretch goals for a successful Kickstarter campaign. That said, the art on this is really great. Dylan Mangini can illustrate games superbly for sure. I love the colors they have chosen, the art style, and fun start player token that came with it (and I hope it is something that can be offered to all through a stretch goal or something). I have no complaints here and I look forward to seeing how the final products looks.

So it is absolutely no surprise that I loved this one. I have a special place in my heart for games with ever-changing resource costs, tile-placing, donuts, multi-use components, and donuts. I love being able to use any part of the Donut Tiles, even if my board looks kooky at the end (see below). It’s so refreshing when a game comes along that takes a comfortable given and turns it on its head. We all know how to keep components within the boundaries of our player board. But WHYYYYY? Dollars to Donuts fixes that, even at the cost of our more organized players’ sanity. I simply love this game and can’t wait to get my final copy. If you also are excited to grab a copy of this one, head over to Kickstarter and join the campaign going on NOW (at the time of this writing) until August 10, 2020. I would also suggest ordering a dozen or two of your favorite bakery treats to have on hand when you play this – your tummy will thank you. Unless you’re diabetic. Then I am sorry.
  
    Backgammon Masters

    Backgammon Masters

    Games and Entertainment

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    Want to learn how to play backgammon wherever you go? You are in luck! Backgammon Masters is an...

You Decide
You Decide
2020 | Dice Game
What game do you think of when I mention, “roll and move?” For me, it’s Candy Land. Perhaps most kids’ first foray into board games at all. To be honest, it’s not even a roll and move, it’s more a flip and move, but they are usually all the same anyway: roll/flip/spin something and then move your pawn. Sometimes there will be something on the spot to “do” and sometimes you just try to race to the finish. So when the publisher and I were chatting about You Decide and they mentioned it was a family-style roll and move game, I had my doubts, but I wanted to try it out. How does this first game from new publisher Davidson Games fare? Let’s find out and You Decide.

As mentioned in my intro, You Decide is a roll and move game for two players. More players can be added to the game with more copies of the game. In the game players are attempting to be the first to move all six of their pawns from the STARTing line to the FINISH line.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are retail copy components, and therefore final components. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, but give a feel for the flow of the game and how it plays. You are invited to download the rulebook, purchase the game from the publisher, or through any retailers stocking it soon. -T


To setup, lay out the board between the two players and each player will place their pawns on the six circles on the START area. Roll off to see who will start the game and you are ready to begin!
You Decide turns are simple: roll both dice and decide which pawn to move. Move it and pass the turn to the opponent. When a player rolls the 2d6 it creates two numbers. For this review we will just use the example of a 4 and a 6. With this roll the player will decide to move the pawn in the 4 spot a total of six spaces, or the pawn in the 6 spot a total of four spaces. Easy, right?

Though movement is easy to determine, deciding which to activate is the challenge, though not severe. Upon many spaces on the board are printed instructions for the player to obey when a pawn lands on it. These could include returning the pawn to the START space, or moving forward a number of spaces but also allowing the opponent to move forward, or simply staying put and moving an opponent’s pawn.


When a player lands their pawn at the FINISH area, that number is no longer able to be used in subsequent rolls, and once several dice are at the FINISH area, each die rolls becomes more and more dire as players are on a mad dash to finish first. Play continues in this fashion until a winner has reached the FINISH area with all their pawns.
Components. This is a board, 12 pawns, and 2d6. The board is fine, with legible print and art that is present but stays out of the way. The pawns are typical plastic pawns but in excellent colors: orange and black. The 2d6 are fine as well. Black plastic with white pips. For this type of game, the components are completely functional. Nothing super impressive nor too egregious.

The gameplay is exactly what you want for a family level game. It is extremely light, offers choices that are meaningful without burning little brains, and has just the right amount of take-that to wean newer gamers off the Candy Land Express.

For me, it fills an interesting niche in my collection that I really didn’t know I had: a simple game for my family that even my 4-year-old can play and do well with, as long as we read the choices to him. Now, You Decide is very light and could be considered a gateway filler, but also as an easygoing family stepping stone game to get little ones rolling dice and making choices. Candy Land does NOT allow you to do that. So if you have young ones about to embark on their board game journey, I suggest you grab a copy of You Decide instead of those beginner games at Wal-Mart or Target. That is, unless You Decide gets picked up and sold at those locations.
  
    Mine Finder Professional

    Mine Finder Professional

    Games and Education

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    The classic MineSweeper game with 4 different levels to challenge you including Easy, Medium, Hard...

Azul
Azul
2017 | Abstract Strategy
Beautiful tiles and boards (1 more)
Semi simple abstract premise
Amazing abstract game with beautiful tiles
I tried this two player with my friend Brian the other day. It played quickly in about a 1/2 hour. I played very poorly and yet still loved it. He described the rules very well and yet I still didn’t grasp it until after I’d played two rounds. Now I feel dumb for not getting it. It is not easy but is still elegant. It makes my brain work in a completely different was from other board game. Which is what I love about BoardGames. There is so much subtle strategy in this game. Not just which tiles to take but when and which row to put them in and not painting yourself into corners. I see why it’s likely to win game of the year this year.